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– Naturally Curly rounds up ten professional hairstyles with curly hair.
– The Wall Street Journal interviews some hedge fund women “in transition” (i.e., laid off) who worry their fashion choices negatively affected their careers. The Grindstone takes a closer look (and quotes me in the process; thank you!).
– The Huffington Post and WSJ's The Juggle get into which careers are best for work/life flexibility. Meanwhile, Penelope Trunk has some advice for how to plan a career in your 20s to stay home with kids in your 30s. (Step 4: Marry rich.)
– Forbes Woman looks at how young female managers can avoid age-related workplace drama.
– Fast Company wonders what you should be doing with your first hour of work. In a similar vein, The Harvard Business Review touts the benefits of routine: “boring is productive.” But: if you're so bored that you fall asleep, Savvy Sugar suggests some ways to jolt yourself awake.
– Divine Caroline rounds up ways to use office supplies for fast fashion fixes (and here's the Corporette take on our favorite office supplies to fix your outfit).
– Finally: Thanks to Real Simple magazine (one of my favorites!) for interviewing me for an article on workwear fashion.
Did we miss anything? Add 'em here, or send them to news@corporette.com. Thank you!
Movie Rental for Dummies
So my brother needs to watch a specific movie for class, and we were going to watch it together tonight. He assumed we could get it for free through my TV (I guess meaning he thought we had Netflix), but we don’t. The local Blockbuster doesn’t carry it. I’ve told him to check with the local library and school library. But it also looks like it is available on Amazon Instant Video. Does that mean that I just pay $2.99 to Amazon and they let me watch it on my laptop, or do I need some sort of subscription (beyond my regular Amazon account) and/or special movie-watching device?
Motoko Kusanagi
“Does that mean that I just pay $2.99 to Amazon and they let me watch it on my laptop…?”
Yes.
c
Yep, you can watch it on your laptop without any special program.
nona
You can just pay the 2.99 and watch in on your laptop. You may need to download a software thing to make it operate (like Silverlight maybe?) but you don’t need anything but an Amazon login, which if you have ever ordered anything from them, you already have.
Bluejay
Yes, but if you wanted to watch it on your TV and DVD player you might try Redbox if they have it in your area.
TCFKAG
You can also rent things through Itunes and through Vudu, if you want to compare prices — but $2.99 for a movie is about standard. Movies are also generally for rent on demand through your cable if you have an upgraded cable package.
Movie Rental for Dummies
Thanks, all! I checked on Redbox, and they don’t carry it (although this is a pretty popular movie that came out years ago — think not as big as Titanic/Forrest Gump, but not in a totally different league in terms of stars, soundtrack, sales, award nominations). Watching on a crappy laptop it is.
CapnKate
Um… Penelope Trunk, have you heard of the Feminine Mystique? Having just read her blog post, I noticed that most of her advice had to do with coping with the misery you will experience when you decide to give up all those “accolades” and spend the rest of your life slaving for your children. How can she so matter-of-factly state that over 80% of women want to be SAHMs while at the same time providing tips on how not to lose your mind to boredom??? This blog post was so 1950s to me.
And, my husband wants to be a stay-at-home dad, so there! (Only problem is I don’t make enough money to make that happen… yet!)
BTW, nothing against SAHMs. But, its the 21st century, and women should have choices and not feel like a freak if they don’t want to put their careers on a shelf to care for the kiddies.
TBK
Oh, Penelope is all kinds of crazy (all. kinds.). But there’s always something about her tone that I enjoy nonetheless (maybe it’s all the crazy).
Bluejay
Did anyone else get a good laugh out of Naturally Curly’s “professional” hairstyles? A headband with a giant bow, really?
Motoko Kusanagi
Yes, I did.
I also got a good laugh out of seeing Gwyneth Paltrow with barely-there beachy waves on a website called “Naturally Curly”. I understand that wavy hair can pose its own styling challenges, but those are entirely removed from curly-hair challenges.
Bluejay
Plus she probably paid a stylist $1000+ to turn her bone-straight hair into waves. So she’s not exactly naturally curly.
Anon
Very true.
I think what disappoints me the most about these types of articles is that they all seem to assume that, if you are a caucasian woman, then your “curly hair” is actually loose, silky/shiny, beachy waves without frizz. Um, not so much.
E
NaturallyCurly.com explicitly includes wavy hair in its spectrum of hair that it deals with.
PharmaGirl
That was such a let down. Womp womp.
LSC
Agreed. Terrible.
Divaliscious11
Meh… other than the bow, and flowers, the rest were more or less fine….
Lawlala
INC on why to ditch the dress code (link follow in a reply).
I never liked the: “People don’t have to stress over the right outfit” reason… aren’t we all adults and should be able to dress ourselves?
Lawlala
http://www.inc.com/janine-popick/5-reasons-to-ditch-your-dress-code.html
Kanye East
I had to stop reading when I got to:
“4. No one judges their colleagues for what they’re wearing.”
Yes, they most certainly do. We probably wouldn’t be reading this website otherwise.
JessC
My favorite quote: “The worst dress code experience I’ve had: A lovely engineer who showed up to work in a bathrobe and Birks. Not a good look if you have people coming into the office … Your jeans, all of a sudden, look like a tuxedo!”
Well, yes, your jeans probably looked MUCH dressier compared to the engineer in her bathrobe, but I’m pretty sure this example exemplifies EXACTLY why workplaces often do need a dress code.
emcsquared
Also – I have never seen a dress code that accurately portrays the true fashion rules of the office. Like, my last office’s policy was far more draconian than the current office, so one would have thought that people were formally dressed at my old office. But NO! Old office was shabby unchic and new office is trendy business formal. That sort of useful information is never conveyed in dress code policies. The policy is always stuff adults don’t *need* to be told, like don’t wear sweat suits to work and please cover your private parts.
Bluejay
Kat, I love that you mentioned the junior employee with a Hermes bag dilemma in your Real Simple article!
But I totally have a woman coworker who pulls off the eccentric-genius style (mostly while wearing lots of pink!). I think it takes a combination of building up your credibility over several decades, being genuinely respected and liked by your colleagues and peers, and a healthy dose of honey-badger-don’t-care attitude.
Kat
I’m fascinated, Bluejay — can you tell me more about her style? I’ve previously seen two examples of women trying “Eccentric genius” and they both failed miserably:
1) Janeane Garofalo doing her standup tour (just looked sloppy and incoherent)
2) a torts professor in law school who occasionally came to class dressed in “classic Bermuda lawyer attire (for men)” of formal shorts, knee-highs, a blazer, button-front and tie. She’s also the one who gave us “top 10 tips for finals” that included “shower.” Oh, and she had no connection to Bermuda, as near as I could tell. We just thought she was wackadoodle.
Bluejay
Hmm. I don’t want to out her, because she’s quite unique and some coworkers read this board. I will think about how to describe her and send you an email.
I think, though, you inadvertently hit the point by saying you saw two examples of women *trying* eccentric genius. My colleague doesn’t try. It’s just her personal style.
LadyEnginerd
Why do people think Penelope Trunk is an authority on How To Succeed At Life? Her advice seems to either be mind-numbingly obvious or out of left field and insulting. Is there a particular space in which people consider her an actual authority?
She seems to emphasize marrying rich a lot, which seems off to me given her posting about her own super unhealthy relationship. And, yes, acquiring money without working for it (the lottery, marrying rich, inheriting) will certainly make a lot of life choices a lot less hard. But is that really an attainable goal for most people (the supply of rich men is finite!) and is it really what will make you happy? What if he’s rich, but the relationship looks like hers?
Daisy
I don’t consider her an authority by any stretch, nor do I agree with many of her views. I do, however, find her life story absolutely fascinating and something about her 9/11 experience makes it all the more compelling. There’s a real draw to her, and I (sort of) see why it’s interesting to at least think about what she has to say.
Annette
Penelope Trunk’s post is making me ragey. Don’t marry a man who won’t make a lot of money? Eek…
Shannon
It’s difficult to describe how offensive I found Penelope’s “article.” I know people like her exist, but I’m flabbergasted that Kat would link to her. After reading her blog post I read another one of her blog about why she thinks teaching math is a waste of time. What a waste of time and energy. I look forward to the weekly news round up for thoughtful articles related to professional women and mothers. That link was useless and offensive.
E
NaturallyCurly.com literally changed my life.
(Well, my hair. But my hair is part of my life!)